


Weeping Satellites

by Unfair_Verona



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Awkward Boners, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Dreams, Empathy, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Fix-It, Flirting, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Memories, Mutual Masturbation, Nudity, Oral Sex, Past Rape/Non-con, Slow Burn, Touching, showering together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-09-18 15:20:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9390695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unfair_Verona/pseuds/Unfair_Verona
Summary: This place was not done with them yet.Nux miraculously survives the crash that should have killed him, and is returned to the Citadel by Max, who decides to stay and help Furiosa undo Immortan Joe's regime and create a better future. But the future cannot be created without looking to the past.





	1. Nothing Again Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! I couldn't contain my feels about MMFR and especially Nux and Capable. I decided that they needed to have a way to be together, and so did Max and Furiosa, so I decided to sit down and write this strange tale. I wondered what life would be like for all of them at the Citadel post-Immortan Joe: how do the former Wives re-assimilate? How does Furiosa cope with her new leadership role? Can Max finally open up and learn to stop running from his past? And what if some of the Citadel dwellers don't want things to change? 
> 
> I'd love to know what you think so far, please leave a comment to let me know, or just to say hi. Happy reading!

There was nothing, only darkness. Fire first, then the black, swallowing. 

It was somehow too quiet in the wasteland, and that always seemed to be a harbinger of something. Not necessarily good or bad, just an open span of possibility, like that endless horizon, waving and fluttering with the heat. Max did not know what had made him come back this way, it was some tugging impulse that pulled him along. He was not done with this place yet, it seemed. Up ahead, he could still see the wreck, jagged and twisted. It somehow looked at home in this landscape, dead. Something in his blood moved him forward , closer, though he wondered what there was to see besides the enormous skeleton of metal that had been the War Rig. Closer, he approached. Blinked and squinted in the sunlight, sure that his mind was up to some new trickery. But no. 

First he saw the pale fingers of a hand, draped on the dirt; his gaze followed those white lines to an arm and then the rest of a familiar body. Max would know him anywhere, after all, he'd spent so long funneling blood into that sickly, dying body. He grunted at the sight, it filled him with a hollowness that he'd rather not encounter. Still, still, he was pushed forward as if there were a strong hand at his back, and he grunted again and moved towards that outstretched hand. His eyes followed along the arm to the rest of the War Boy lying amid the charred metal. Disbelief made him draw in a sharp breath. He would have thought that there would be very little left of Nux, after a crash like that, but here he was, bony and pale as death but otherwise there seemed to be no real damage to him. His eyes were closed. He looked younger, even, and impossibly fragile. Max felt that phantom hand at the small of his back once more and was shoved closer, forcefully, and he fell to his knees beside Nux. Pity washed through him, and he tried to chase the feeling away, to cast it into the dust and dirt. His hand reached out, almost of its own accord, surprising Max. A sigh escaped his dry lips as his fingers came to rest against the War Boy's neck, near those two lumps like small hills. Then he heard it, or rather _felt_ it, thudding weak and faint but unmistakable. A pulse.

He almost reared back in surprise and his breath caught in his throat and stayed there for a moment until it began to strangle him. Then he activated, moving quickly and yet carefully to pull Nux out of the wreckage and onto the sand. Max leaned a head down onto the boy's scarred chest and listened, making sure that he was not imagining this. He heard it again, weak thumping, a slow rush of blood. He looked over his shoulder, scanning the horizon. For a moment he was embraced by an eerie feeling, that there was something watching him, or them, rather. But there was nothing to be seen, only the emptiness of the wasteland and the sun screaming down. With a grunt, he gently gathered Nux into his arms and hoisted him over his shoulder. He noticed the imprints of his footsteps in the sand, and followed them back to the Citadel.

 

X

 

At the giant compound, things were moving very quickly. There was plenty to be done, and Furiosa worried. Yet she tucked the worry into some corner of herself and got to work dismantling the machine of horror that had been the Immortan's regime. The Sisters, formerly known as the Wives, joined her, eager to be started.  
Furiosa directed the young women towards tasks that wouldn't expose them too quickly to the larger machinations of the Citadel: they had spent so long under lock and key in the Bio Dome that she doubted any of them were really aware of the other levels of the three towered complex, particularly the lowest level, where the Wretched dwelled. Furiosa knew that the Sisters were strong, but she also was aware that it was hard enough being back here. If she had a chance to ease them into it, she would: they'd already had enough shocks over the past few days. The former Imperator was now the de-facto leader: Immortan Joe's all too human frailties had been proven to the Citadel dwellers and his godlike illusion was already swiftly crumbling. But now there were thousands of people depending on her, looking to her to lead and provide. 

One thing at a time, Furiosa told herself. First, she assessed the situation on all of the levels of the Citadel, speaking to the Wretched and assuring them that they would be fed and given water as soon as possible, fighting back the wave of pity she felt when she saw their living conditions. She visited the Milking Mothers and other Breeders, now battling both pity and disgust at the way the women were used like livestock, wracking her brains to think of a better way, a better way for them all to live like human beings, but _how_? And then last she spoke with the remaining War Boys, who were little more than pups, so sickly and small, gazing at her lost and wide-eyed now that their surrogate father and god was gone. Somehow they saddened her more than all the rest, looking to her for instruction, leadership, orders that she could not give. What to do about them, all of these, left behind? It was too much, and it threatened to overwhelm her. 

Returning to the top of the Citadel, she went in search of the Sisters. Three of them were easy enough to find, but the Dag was not where she had previously been. After questioning the others she was pointed in the direction of one of the lookout points. Surely enough, there stood the pale, slender woman, her eyes locked on the horizon as if she was waiting for someone. There was a strange look on her face, and Furiosa frowned but then shrugged it off. 

"What is it?" she asked, coming to stand beside her. 

"I don't know yet," Dag responded, scrunching up her face a little, still staring out. "I can feel something turning around."

Furiosa had no idea what that meant, but she did not press the matter, she simply turned with a low sigh. She didn't have time to puzzle over the woman's odd pronouncements. There was so much to be done.

 

X

 

Capable set to work cleaning- this was something that had always calmed her. She enjoyed mindless busy work, it made her feel useful. It felt odd to be back at the Citadel, she needed to readjust to the lack of Immortan Joe's presence. Now that he was gone there was no pervading fear, no choking hopelessness, and it made the huge place feel strangely empty. Their journey toward freedom had merely returned them here. But it would be different now, or so she hoped. The Citadel would not be a prison for her and the other former wives, not while Furiosa was in charge. Still, Capable felt the ghost of the Immortan and feared that someone else--power-hungry and astonishingly sadistic--would take his place. No, she convinced herself as she scrubbed the rag across the floor, swiping at the same spot over and over, she trusted Furiosa above all others, she had brought them this far. Of course, they'd had help; they never would have made it without the mysterious feral--' _Max_ ', she reminded herself--and of course, Nux. 

Capable closed her eyes and forced all thoughts of the War Boy from her mind. Now was not the time. There was too much work ahead. She scrubbed furiously, until her knuckles scraped raw against the floor. Then the sound of footsteps made her raise her head. 

"You're just moving dirt around," remarked Cheedo, staring down at her with folded arms. "This place is so filthy, you can't clean it with a rag."

Capable shrugged. "What else am I supposed to do?" she asked, immediately hating how quiet and small her voice sounded. 

"You could help me and Toast do inventory," the other woman suggested. "Furiosa wants us to get a complete list of all the provisions here. We know the Immortan kept a big stash for himself locked away. It can all be redistributed eventually."

Capable found herself shaking her head, and a few loose fiery curls fell across her eyes.

Cheedo sighed. "Suit yourself. But you're gonna need a new rag." Then she turned and walked away.

She was right about that, Capable realized. She made her way down the hall that led towards the Bio-dome and the Vault, a lump rising in her throat as she reached the massive doorway, which was now hanging half-open. She steeled herself and entered, swiftly grabbing several of the white fabric gowns that she and her Sisters had been garbed in, back when they were Wives. Then she hurried back out, realizing that she'd been holding her breath for awhile. She deftly tore the fabric into pieces, relishing the ripping sound as she did so. Capable knelt down and began cleaning again, watching as the dirt and grease covered the white gauze, making stains that would never wash out.

 

X

 

The Dag stayed at her lookout for hours more, and just when Furiosa was about to insist that the girl come back inside, she heard her cry out, " _Look_! Look! There they are!"

Furiosa, with Cheedo and Toast at her heels, rushed over to see what had the pale woman so excited. The Imperator followed the outstretched white hand and saw a shape in the fading desert light. She squinted, but somehow, even without binoculars she knew who it was, and her heart made a weird turning-over motion inside of her chest. 

"I don't believe it," whispered Cheedo, at the same time that Toast said triumphantly, "I _knew_ it!"

The small, short haired woman moved closer to the edge for a better look. "Who's he carrying?" she asked, and Furiosa's mouth dropped open a little in surprise. " _How_?" she thought to herself, because she recognized the skeletal form draped over Max's shoulder. Her feet started to move, her body screaming into motion despite the still-too-fresh pain of her injuries.

 

Still cleaning, her arms aching, knuckles torn and knees bruised, Capable had not heard the Dag's cries, had not seen the returning figures--she had been shutting out her surroundings with a single-minded determination, only focusing on the greasy cloth, scrubbing uselessly at dirt that refused to lift. 

It wasn't until an approaching cacaphony from below startled her back to awareness that she lifted her head, and then she was merely annoyed by it. Climbing to her feet, Capable winced at the awful stiffness in her muscles. She went to see what was going on, and was immediately greeted by the source of the commotion the moment that she stepped into the main corridor. 

Someone had arrived at the Citadel, it seemed, and the gates had been quickly opened, which indicated that it was a familiar someone. Capable saw the Dag standing very still, watching, and walked over to her.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"They're back," replied Dag simply. Capable frowned in confusion. "They?"

The blonde turned to her and gave a nod. "Max. And your War Boy."

 

X

 

_When Nux woke, it happened slowly, in stages. First, there was nothing. Then, a dreamlike swimmy space of muted color. Everything gained borders, little by little, came into clearer definition. And then he dreamed of fire, all around him, licking at his skin. It was the vividness that startled him, so pretty it ached. The color of the flames reminded him somehow of flowing hair, of a perfect shiny girl. He couldn't call her face into view, but he could feel the cool ghosts of her fingertips. The dream lasted for a long time. Then the pain came. It started in his limbs, letting him know that he was alive, and at first he did not believe it, because it couldn't be possible! Was he truly so unworthy as to be denied Valhalla once more? Perhaps. And he should have known this. Weak. Sickly. Mediocre._

_Rage passed through him then, along with the pain, then sorrow that nearly choked the breath from him--and he could still feel Larry and Barry against his throat, of course, still pressing in. So this would be his fate, then: not to die historic but to be eaten alive slowly. He could not move or open his eyes, so he just lay there, half-alive in the darkness until he slept again._

 

The minute that Capable saw him her heart stuttered and stammered; her blood felt strange and too-fast moving. She made a motion to dart towards Max and the War Boy that he was carrying, but Cheedo and the Dag held her back. 

Furiosa was already at Max's side, helping him. The two moved along the hall and into one of the rooms that Capable had been cleaning, where they laid Nux down on a spare bed. Furiosa put a hand against his neck, feeling and listening. Then she nodded to Max, wordless communication in the look, and rushed back out of the room and down the corridor again. 

Capable was having some trouble breathing, she could hear her heart pounding war drums in her ears and everything felt buzzy and far-away. She felt a hand against her arm and looked over to see the the Dag standing there very calmly, as if she'd somehow been expecting all of this. The touch reassured Capable, calmed her a little. Both women turned at the sound of pounding booted feet and saw Furiosa returning with something in her hands: Capable recognized the long tubing, and she was reminded of the War Rig, the Wasteland, Max the Blood Bag, The Splendid Angharad, _Nux_. It seemed like more time had passed since they returned to the Citadel, but it had not, and now everything became too-fresh; every memory and wound, every loss. 

 

X

 

Now that night had fallen it felt even emptier at the top of the Citadel, and the Sisters were so tired that they felt turned inside-out. Capable and the others were waiting in the hall, sitting curled against each other, waiting, all-together like a unit. They all knew that something unusual was happening, changing, that energy was palpable in the air: it slunk down corridors and climbed along walls and made creaking sounds like old bones. 

Finally, Furiosa appeared again and looked at the Sisters. Her face was weary, but there was something like wonder or astonishment in her eyes.

"He'll live," said the Dag in a sleepy voice; this was more statement than question. 

Capable could see the Imperator's nod in the dim light. "It seems so."

She paused after that, then said, "Sleep now, all of you. We have a lot of work to do in the morning."

One at a time, the young women stood, helping each other to their feet, and then moved down the hallway like a single exhausted entity. They shared an unspoken refusal to go anywhere near the Vault, and so they had chosen one of the other larger rooms. Two mattresses with squeaking springs sufficed to hold all four of them; they could easily have spread out, there was enough space now, but they seemed to feel safer this way, and Capable knew that it would be awhile before any of them could sleep alone. She listened to her Sisters' steady breathing as they each tipped off into slumber.

Capable fell asleep last, her knees tucked up to her chest. She closed her eyes and saw the desert, heard the hum and whir and groan of engines, the spin of wheels, all the noises of fury.

 

 

Max sat beside Nux quietly for a long time, watching the blood trickle from his body to the Boy's. Furiosa re-entered the room and stood silently for a moment, staring at Max. She swallowed. "You need to rest," she told him pointedly. He merely grunted in response. Rolling her eyes, Furiosa stalked over and unceremoniously pulled the needle from Max's arm. He opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by a stern look from the Imperator. 

"You need to rest," she repeated. "Draining yourself of all your strength isn't going to help him at all. You're exhausted, dehydrated." She sighed and sank down next to him, and all three breathed quietly together. "I can't believe he survived that crash." 

The War Boy had several cracked ribs, a fractured elbow, and was completely comatose, but other than that she couldn't find any evidence of other injury, no internal ruptures or bleeding. "Actually," she confessed, "I can't believe any of us survived."

Max seemed surprised by this, Furiosa could see his full mouth dip into a frown. "Maybe you just don't want to believe it," he offered with a shrug. "Maybe...maybe cause surviving is sometimes harder."

She set a hand on his arm, let it rest there. "How are you?" he asked, and she knew that he was concerned about her injuries, even though he would never say it outright. 

"I'll be fine," Furiosa told him reassuringly, letting the traces of a wan smile creep across her mouth. "I'll heal." This was true; she was beyond sore and at times even breathing made her grit her teeth in pain, but she had survived worse, certainly. She would heal. 

"Come on." She got to her feet and pulled Max along after her. She had selected a room at the end of the hall for herself, at the intersection of the towers, so that she could be connected, close to everything going on. It occurred to Furiosa that she didn't know what her place was anymore, which world she exactly belonged to, but she was _here_ , and so was Max, now, and that was what mattered. She nudged him toward the pallet on the floor and he lay down without a word, but then he reached for her. After a half-moment of contemplation, Furiosa joined him. They stretched out side by side, close but not really touching. Still, it was somehow exactly what she needed; his presence and the heat of his body offered her just enough comfort to close her eyes.

 

X

 

The next morning it took Capable a moment to register exactly where she was, and then the whirl of memory stormed back to remind her. She shook her head and brushed back her tangled hair, then got to her feet, stepping around her still-sleeping Sisters. Noises of the day reverberated all through the Citadel, from below she could hear the the thunderous symphony that was the workings of this place. She had not yet been to a large portion of the stronghold; she and the others were kept up in the Bio Dome, away from prying eyes, kept just for Joe. A feeling of disgust roiled through Capable and made her shudder as she shook away the memories associated with that monster, locked them away in a mind-Vault of her own where they would hopefully not disturb her. Things were different now, she reminded herself. They would change. Hope; keep hope. 

She paused for a moment outside the door to the room where Nux lay, then after drawing in a breath she pushed it open and walked inside. Even though he was now right in front of her, Capable still had a hard time believing that he had survived. She had witnessed his sacrifice, watched the ensuing wreck. Nobody could have lived through that, especially not a sickly War Boy, and yet.... hadn't she told him that he was meant for something great? Still disbelieving, she reached out a hand and brought her fingers against his dry, scarred lips. A rush of warmth and sadness and something else, something deeper and inexplicable, swam through her. That feeling she'd had when she found him lying in the back of the War Rig--the overwhelming and sudden empathy, the feeling that he belonged to her somehow--it returned, though she didn't know what exactly to call it. 

Now that she was allowed in the room, now that she had seen him, she could not be moved. Max came in and silently gave him more blood; he and Capable acknowledged one another's presence with a simple nod, and that was enough. 

The redhead held Nux's hand, humming softly, and then when Max eventually got up and left, she talked to her Boy. She didn't say much, just spoke about the cleaning that she was doing, how she hoped life at the Citadel would be different now, how he should wake so that she could show him the gardens and the water supply, and all the other things he'd never seen firsthand. Capable didn't mention the moments that they spent together on the Rig, or making camp with the Vuvalini, curled close to each other, breath and sand and satellites. But she thought of them all the same, and felt them, and perhaps Nux could, too, maybe she could infuse him with them through her fingertips.

Capable was not blind to the fact that she was shirking her duties, spending so much time there beside him, but she didn't care. After all, Furiosa knew where she was, and could come and demand that she leave anytime. But she did not. 

The Dag wandered in a few hours later, approached Nux and pressed a hand against his forehead. Then, seeming satisfied, she pulled it away. "Stronger," she pronounced. "He may wake soon."

"I hope so," said Capable, holding tighter to the War Boy's hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze. 

" _Hope is the thing with feathers_ ," the Dag announced cryptically. 

"What?"

"Just words from very long ago. Poetry. The Immortan had books in his vaults. Toast was doing inventory, she read it to me." Dag sighed. "He kept so much locked away. Not just us."

Capable and Toast were the best readers now. Angharad had been--she was Miss Giddy's star pupil--but they'd never been given access to the Immortan's private collection, naturally. Capable was intrigued by the notion of words hidden away, waiting to be discovered; of poetry. "Feathers," she repeated, then gave a nod. "Maybe it can fly."

"Maybe,"agreed the Dag. She brushed a slender hand across Nux's forehead again and then disappeared out the door without another word. 

 

X

 

Furiosa was, in fact, aware that Capable was with Nux, and she didn't mind. She'd observed the connection between the two of them during their journey, and felt that it might be best for the War Boy and the former Wife to stay close, it might do them both some good. She and the other women, once they were awake, continued their arduous inventory work. All of the Immortan's vaults had been opened, his secret hoards spilling out into the light. 

The bastard had indeed amassed quite a collection. He had books, hundreds of them or more, old maps, and seeds, so many seeds that the Dag squealed with delight upon seeing them. 

But there were other things, too. It was Toast who had discovered these: pictures, graphic and ugly pictures of couples rutting each other, some men and women, some men and men... she quickly tossed these aside, feeling her stomach turn over at the sight, because it _reminded her_. There were other things that _reminded_ as well, like long objects of all different sizes, meant to go in different holes. A sudden flare of rage made Toast lash out, taking even her by surprise as she knocked them to the floor and kicked them over and over again, until she felt somewhat calmer. But she was not finished; she gripped the pictures and tore them, shredding wildly. It was at this moment that Furiosa walked in to check on her, saw her kicking and ripping, saw the shards of images on the floor and the angry tears that were now spilling down Toast's face. The young woman stopped for a moment when she noticed the Imperator there, looked a little worried. Furiosa merely nodded at her. "Good. We don't need those anymore."

 

X

 

Finally, Nux realized, he could move. First it was a slow twitching of fingers, that was all he could manage. He heard Capable draw in a sharp hiss of breath and felt her move even closer; her hand around his was warm and encouraging. Then, though it seemed to take a hundred years, his eyes opened. The first thing he saw was the smile on her face. He was here, alive, and she was here beside him: these were the only things that Nux was certain of. He did not know where they were, or how he had arrived--the last thing he vividly remembered was the Rig turning over, and then the Dark. If there was a Valhalla, he had not seen any trace of it. But yes, Capable was here, smiling down at him despite his unworthiness. There were tears in her eyes when she bent down to press her lips against his cheek. "I've been missing you," she whispered.

Yet he was still unbelievably tired, though he had been sleeping for days. The journey towards waking, back to her, had worn Nux down again. There was so much that he wanted to say, but it was all that he could do to just keep looking at Capable, to keep her shiny face in focus. She seemed to understand. She crawled into bed, tucking herself in beside him, stroking his face and neck with her hands. Nux's muscles ached, worse than ever before. The pain then burrowed deeper, wormed its way into his bones and feasted on the marrow of him, until he could imagine them rotting beneath his skin. The pain crawled up his spine, his neck, to the base of his skull where it surrounded his head like a crushing halo. Then the ache morphed into a full-body shiver, so violent that he could feel his skeleton rattle. The freeze always came before the heat. 

Capable was speaking to him, her voice soothing but full of concern: his vision had blurred and he couldn't see her anymore. Then the heat engulfed him, till his skin itched and burned so badly that he wanted to claw it off. This was the worst it had ever been. Nux did not want her to witness him like this, helpless and sick. ' _I'm being punished_ ,' he thought to himself. ' _Because I failed. Because I am mediocre and worthless..._ ' So worthless that even death would not have him. 

The pressure on his skull reached a boiling point and then all he could see was light, garish light, for miles and miles against the horizon. Then came a cloud, too large to be ordinary, it covered everything, chewed and swallowed it. Then it stopped and all was still. Nux looked down at his feet and didn't recognize the ground where he stood. It was soft. Green. He raised his head and saw trees, living, healthy trees with huge leaves. 

" _Everything can live again, but the Memory must be first. All the Forgotten must rise_." It was a voice, all around him, as of it was coming from the grass and trees, rising up out of the green.

" _As you live again, so shall the Memory_."

Then the Voice and the Green were gone and Nux was jolted awake, quickly this time. He was utterly drenched in a pool of sweat, but the pain was gone. He saw many faces above him, familiar: his Blood Bag, Imperator Furiosa-- and they both looked wary and dumbfounded, but also relieved. The Wives were hovering in the doorway, wide eyed, their arms around each other. And then of course, there was his glorious Capable. Her face was paler than usual, and there were tears resting on her cheeks; she blinked and more spilled down. 

"As I live," he said, recalling the Voice from the Green, "so shall the Memory."

 

The others finally left once they were sure that he was alright, that the fever was over. Capable, happy to be alone with Nux again, fetched a bowl of water and some cloths, then gently began to wash him. He was covered in sweat, dirt and grime still, even the white powder and dark grease around his eyes remained. Her heart had plummeted when she saw the fever set in, when his eyes rolled back in their sockets as the fit overtook him, so strong that she feared he'd crack apart. "Furiosa!" She'd screamed. " _Max_!" 

The two had heard her cries and come running, bursting into the room. Max had gripped her by the shoulders and pulled her off the bed and away from Nux. "Don't hold him down," he told her roughly. "But... but what can we..." Capable's voice trailed off, small and laced with helplessness. 

"There's nothing we _can_ do," said Furiosa. Her tone was soft. "It will either pass eventually, or..."

Capable made a move to go to him again and Max still held her back, but more gently this time. " _Don't_."

Capable had been scared before, scared and waiting. Angharad's first birthing had been very hard on her body, the baby had been turned a strange way and she had bled and bled. The other Wives and Miss Giddy had sat through many tense hours, holding each other. But this, now, this was a different kind of helplessness. It was colder, deeper, it brought more pain. Yet eventually the shaking had abated and Nux had opened his eyes again. Such blue eyes, blue endless horizon after a long storm. And he was back with her, back where he belonged. 

Capable hummed as she cleaned him and he just watched the movement of her hands, noticed with a frown that the skin on her knuckles was raw and injured. "You were with me, you know," he said as she dragged the cloth softly across his forehead, spilling down the water as if she were baptizing him, washing away the traces of his former life. It lifted, this time, and Capable smiled with satisfaction. Underneath, Nux was clean. He was shiny.


	2. Under the Shadow of This Red Rock

The sun was particularly mean the next day, beating down upon the rocks, making everything stiflingly hot. Furiosa was sweating and miserable, her chest and torso ached. Nux seemed to be fully stabilized now, which was a relief, but Furiosa had to admit that his fit the previous night had left her a little shaken. Those startling blue eyes, wide and haunted; his words, "As I live, so shall the Memory." They clung to the corners of her mind and refused to let go. 

She checked on the Wives; Cheedo and Toast had nearly finished sorting through Immortan Joe's Vaults. The obscene findings had been destroyed, and all of the more useful things were counted and catalogued. Clothes, electronics--some of which Furiosa didn't even recognize--weapons, vials that held liquids and pills, bottles of alcohol, coins and seeds--hundreds of seeds for vegetables and herbs. She hadn't been aware that they even existed, and it rankled her that the Immortan had never even attempted to grow them, that the greedy schlanger had hoarded them all for himself, aware of the potential while below people starved. 

They might have a chance to increase the food supply, she realized, if they could ration the water enough to provide a larger scale hydroponics system and expand the meager gardens. Nux's condition had also reminded Furiosa that they had no primary Medic left at the Citadel: the Organic Mechanic was dead, which was probably for the best, but now the Imperator had a troop of dying War Boys who needed treatment, pregnant Breeders, sick Wretched, and of course, the Dag would eventually require care during her pregnancy. In the second tower of the Citadel, there were many with skills, those who could sew, or cook, or repair, and she knew there were also some with medical training, however meager. 

That was another worry: how to deal with this hierarchy that Joe--Furiosa had to remind herself that he was just _Joe_ , just a man and not a god, she had proved that--had built. How to give everyone a place, to remind them that they were people, not things, not engines or gears. She knew that it would not be possible to make it a paradise, it would never even be _fair_ , this was an unfair world after all, but she could make it better, and that was a start. 

Now Furiosa leaned on the hot rock and stared out over the sun-baked, heat-shimmering Wasteland, losing herself in thought until she felt a familiar presence come to stand beside her. 

"What should we do about the Blood Bags?" she asked Max. "It's inhumane, but we don't have another option at this point. We need the War Boys, and they're all so sick."

"The Blood Bags aren't all innocent," Max replied. "Some were downright terrible. Marauders, thieves, making trouble."

Furiosa offered him a slight grin. "Like you, Feral?"

His head jerked in a nod. "Like I said, not all innocent. Worse than me. Leave 'em for now. No other way."

This surprised Furiosa but she didn't let it show. "And the Breeders," she continued. "That has to stop. No forced Breeding. We can't keep building an army out of sickly children. More mouths to feed, more blood needed. They're basically born to die."

"Except for one," Max remarked with a shrug. 

"Well, I blame you for that," Furiosa attempted at teasing, "you and your high-octane blood."

"Save _you_ , didn't it?"

They locked eyes and stared at each other for a long, curious moment. Then, surprising even herself, Furiosa leaned forward and brought her forehead against Max's, resting it there. She was so close to him that she could feel his breath. Her gaze then drifted down to his mouth and Furiosa was aware that she was focusing there a little too much, and so she pulled back.

"We can start cutting out enforced breeding," he suggested, bringing them back to the matters at hand. "If people want to...volunteer, that's fine. But they won't be made to against their will."

Furiosa hummed in agreement and stared out again over the sand, her forehead warm and tingling.

 

X

 

Capable was delighted at how quickly Nux seemed to be regaining his strength. With her help, he could stand, and soon he walked again, though initially he needed to lean against her for support. She enjoyed this, the weight of him against her, the two of them moving in unison. 

Nux had never been this high up in the Citadel before, and it seemed to him like a completely different world. He marveled at the gardens; not since his strange vision had he seen so much green in one place. He had not spoken to Capable about this, he didn't yet have the words to describe it. In fact, he had not said much at all since fully waking, just absorbed everything, drinking in her presence and this new place, this new life.

 

The Milking Mothers were primarily kept in the Milking room down the end of the corridor, past the stretch of gardens. Capable had never been inside. With Nux beside her, she felt like this was as good a time as any, and so she pushed open the large door and the two stepped into the room. 

Though she certainly knew about Mother's Milk and had drank it many times, she hadn't been witness to the process by which it was collected. It was a long room, sparse, with rows of benches. Upon those benches sat women, propped up. Their bodies were heavy, and their enormous, distended breasts were hooked to a pumping apparatus that collected their life-giving elixir.

 

Nux stared around in wonder. Capable was stunned. Many of the women seemed content enough, she observed, just sitting quietly and allowing their bodies to be used in this way. One of the Mothers noticed them, and called them over. "You there," she said, and Nux and Capable tentatively approached her. 

She was a very big woman, larger than the rest, with long curly dark hair and a round, fleshy face. She studied them for a moment, as if summing them up. "How odd to see a Wife and a War Boy together. Quite the obscene pair you two make. But I suppose we shall see more of such things, such...mingling, now that our Immortan has entered Valhalla. I hope that traitor Imperator doesn't get too many big ideas in that bald head of hers." The woman laughed rather meanly and Capable narrowed her eyes.

"Furiosa is going to help all of us. That includes _you_ ," she shot back.

The woman rolled her eyes at this. "Ha! I saw the way she looked at us when she came down here. Disgust. Revulsion. Everyone wants to drink the milk but nobody wants to see it be made. I've been here since I was younger than you, I've borne over sixteen children and nourished hundreds with my milk. That is something to truly be proud of."

"You're a breeder, also," Capable acknowledged. 

"Why, certainly. Most of us are. Some don't have the constitution for it," the Mother added with a sniff, "and they can only have one or two. They're milked for as long as possible and when they dry up, they're taken away, but not me. I'm _ripe_." Her eyes roved over Capable in a way that made Nux's skin prickle. "If I'd been as pretty as you, perhaps I'd have been taken as a wife, too. How many pups did you provide for the Immortan, girl?"

Nux saw the corners of Capable's mouth twitch and felt a slight tremor go through her, so he laced his fingers through hers and glared at the Milking Mother.

"One," Capable replied, in a hard, quiet voice. 

"Ah," said the Mother. She was clearly enjoying this, and Nux's temper began to rise. "Boy or girl?" she prodded.

"Girl," answered Capable, drawing herself up a little, refusing to let the woman goad her into reacting. She was made of sterner stuff than that. 

"Hmm..." There was a nasty gleam in the Mother's eyes. "Dead, then. You must not have what it takes. I, on the other hand, bore only sons. I was made for this, to provide for the Immortan."

Rage suddenly overwhelmed Nux and he could contain himself no longer. Letting go of Capable, he lurched forward towards the woman. "Listen, you huge cow, the Immortan is dead! Ripped apart! And you were nothing to him, just another part of the Engine. He would have disposed of you like all the others once you dried up. It wouldn't have mattered how many sons you had, or how many you fed. Furiosa will at least give you a chance, you won't be just a Thing to her!" He grabbed Capable's hand again and they spun around and exited the Milking Room. 

"I'm sorry," he told Capable sincerely, once they were back in the hallway. He squeezed her fingers and looked deeply into her eyes with an azure gaze so intense that she felt electricity shoot up her spine. Then it traveled back downwards and a strange heat pooled at the bottom of her belly. She shook her head. "No, don't be! It was my fault, I brought us in there."

"She had no right to say that to you, to make you upset." Anger was still causing adrenaline--his own adrenaline--to course through his blood and it occurred to Nux that he felt strong, stronger than he had even with Blood Bag attached to the front of his rig.

"I know," said Capable. She looked back at the door to the Milking Room and gave a sigh. "Still, I can't help but feel sorry for her. That's all she's ever really known, and now she fears that it will be taken away from her. Fear can sometimes make people be cruel. That woman has not seen what we have seen."

Nux, now calmer, nodded. "It's strange at first, to realize that you are not a Thing." He looked down at his scarred chest and recalled how proud he'd been to be a War Boy, how eager and ready to die for the Immortan. "Maybe she will learn, if she can get out of that room."

"Let's hope so." Capable gave him a gentle smile. "Come on, let's see what the others are up to."

 

When they found Toast and the Dag, the two women were seated on the floor across from one another. In between them was something that Capable had never seen before: it was a flat board with black and white squares all over it. There were small pieces of varying shapes sitting on the squares like tiny statues. 

The Dag picked up one of the bigger pieces and skipped it across several of the squares. Toast frowned at her. "I don't think that's how you do it."

"How do you know?" asked the Dag.

"Well, there must be _rules_. It doesn't seem fair that you can go hopping over all that space at once."

"Who's going to stop me?" the pale woman taunted in a sing-song voice.

"I am," announced Toast, narrowing her dark eyes. She picked up one of the small statues and placed it in front of the Dag's piece, blocking her advance. 

"Ha! I'll just knock you over!" 

Triumphantly, the Dag tipped over Toast's statue. Toast scowled and glared at her Sister. "Alright, then I'll just do this." She grabbed one of her other, larger pieces and sent the Dag's tumbling. A kind of weird war ensued then, while Nux and Capable watched in amusement. 

The Dag finally skipped her piece all the way to the other end of the board and cried "I win!!"

"You do not!" Toast yelled stubbornly. "You don't even know how to play!"

"Neither do you! Nobody does! It's a dead smegging game!" Dag got to her feet and kicked at the pieces, sending them flying. 

At this moment, Max and Furiosa entered the room. "What are you doing?" the Imperator demanded, seeing the two women squabbling like children. "Clean that up and put it away! Then go to the gardens, the both of you, and pick vegetables. After that, chop them up, enough to be rationed and given out below."

Toast and the Dag nodded rather meekly and set to cleaning up the game. One of the smaller statue-pieces had rolled over by Nux's foot. He reached down, mindful of his cracked ribs, and picked it up. He stared curiously at it for a moment, turning it over in his hand before slipping it into his pocket.

Then Furiosa turned to him and Capable. "Nux, how are you feeling?" she asked. 

"Almost shine, Imperator," he replied with a nod, and Capable beamed at him.

"Well...good. Then you and Capable can do something for me." Furiosa motioned them toward a large stack of books on the floor. "We found these in the Vault," she explained, "and they might have helpful information in them. Go through and see if you can find anything about medicines or plants."

"Medicines or plants," Capable repeated. "Got it." She smiled and then lowered herself to the floor, Nux joining her. 

Furiosa left them, running a hand over her close-cropped hair as she went. Her skin was slick with sweat and her tank top was sticking to her. She hoped that she might have a chance to shower within the next few days. 

Max walked alongside her. "He can't read, you know that," he said, once they were out of earshot. 

"I know," Furiosa replied, stopping for a moment. "But he wants to be helpful, he needs to feel like he has a purpose. The War Boy mentality has been so deeply ingrained in him, it's going to be hard to readjust."

"Maybe he'll ride again," Max said, shrugging in that way that he had. Sometimes his physical gestures conveyed much more than words. 

Furiosa shot him a withering look. "Not if Capable has anything to say about it, I'm sure. She just got him back, she's not going to let him go running off again." She paused, biting her lip and folding her arms, aware that she'd possibly interjected too much of her own personal sentiment into that statement. She hadn't asked Max how long he would be staying, and she certainly wasn't about to beg, but the thought of him leaving caused a dull pain in her chest. 

"Fair enough," he said, and one side of his mouth quirked upwards in a smile.

 

X

 

Capable sifted through the large volume on her lap. Nux sat behind her and she rested her head against his chest, careful not to hurt his ribs or his elbow. Her concern touched him, but Nux was honestly stunned by how quickly he was healing, and how little pain he was actually in. He could focus now on Capable, the feel of her against him, the softness of her, the fall of her hair. He knew he couldn't be much help here besides holding her. He had never been taught words, only engines. That was all he needed to know, it was his reason for existing. Perhaps, someday, he could learn to do other things. Right now, he was fine with this, watching her run her finger along the page, feel her sigh as she came across a word that she didn't recognize, or make a sound of excitement when she discovered something. Without realizing it, he pulled her even closer, wrapping his good arm around her slender waist. 

Capable stiffened and her breath hitched. Nux was worried that he'd done something wrong, but then she relaxed even more deeply into his embrace. "Are you finding plants and medicine?" he asked.

"Some," she said. "This book is about herbs--plants--that you can grow, and they can help treat different sicknesses."

"Really?" Nux was intrigued. He wasn't aware that plants could do that. The Organic Mechanic had certainly never given him or any of the other War Boys plants. Just blood. "That's so shine! Can we grow the plants in the garden that you showed me?" 

"Maybe," Capable spoke thoughtfully, "if we could make it bigger. It's crowded with all the vegetables and fruit." 

"We should figure out how to make it bigger," Nux decided, "and grow the 'herbs'. Then maybe...maybe we won't need Blood Bags anymore." The last bit was spoken hopefully, and Capable set the book down and stroked his arm with her soft fingers. The touch sent pleasant shivers running through him. 

Then she pulled away, patting him on the knee. "Let's get up. I'm going to ask Furiosa if there's enough water rationed for a shower."

"Shower?" repeated Nux. He'd only been in a shower once or twice in his whole life. On the rare occasions that the War Boys were allowed to bathe, they were typically given a single bucket of water and told to make do. They were only half-lives, after all. They stayed covered in paint to remind them of what they were, and it wasn't right to wash it away. 

Her head bobbed in a nod. "Yes," she replied. "I haven't had one since we've been back, and you need cleaned off as well. Come on."


	3. What Shall We Ever Do?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Capable and Nux get clean and closer, Max attempts to pay Furiosa a compliment, the Dag hates carrots, and Nux has another strange dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again to everyone! Thank you to everyone who has been reading this, especially those who commented or left kudos, I really appreciate it! Just a small note about this chapter: it does contain some mentions of past rape, nothing too graphic, but if you are triggered by this then please read on with caution. If you have any specific questions, leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Much luv to my readers, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

 

The food preparation area was located in the upper portion of the second tower. It was utilitarian, nothing fancy, just one long table, a few pots and pans and utensils, and an oven and range that were rarely, if ever, used. Nobody gave much thought toward creating anything but the most basic of foodstuffs for the lower denizens of the Citadel. Immortan Joe had his pick of whatever was available, naturally, and he'd also fed the Wives fairly well--he'd needed to keep them healthy, after all. 

Furiosa sank down onto one of the uncomfortable metal chairs in the corner; it was the first time she'd sat down in hours, nearly all day. Max, perhaps sensing how tired she was, rested a hand briefly on her shoulder above her prosthetic and gave a gentle squeeze. Then he walked over to the table where Toast and the Dag were chopping the vegetables that they had picked. 

"Those knives need sharpened," Max remarked as he watched the Dag struggle to run the blade through a thick and particularly stubborn carrot. 

"I don't like carrots," she announced, as if it were the fault of the vegetable that it could not be cut, and not the knife. "If you eat too many carrots, you'll turn orange."

"That's not true," Toast said, peeling back the outer skin of an onion.

"It is so! Miss Giddy told me."

"Actually, I think that is true," spoke up Furiosa. "I heard it somewhere."

"Well then, maybe you should eat more carrots," Toast teased the Dag. "Put a little color in your face."

The Dag stuck out her tongue in reply.

Ignoring the two women, Furiosa said to Max, "Capable asked me if she could shower, and so I put the timer on. That means only one more left for us today."

"You take it," said Max. "You've earned it, I'm fine without."

"Me too," piped up Toast. "But I call first available slot tomorrow."

"What about Nux?" wondered the Dag. She had paused in her struggle with the carrot and was now examining her reflection in the dull knife blade. "Is he going to shower with her?"

Toast snorted. Max looked over at Furiosa, who leaned back in the chair and tried to stretch her aching shoulders, which was difficult to do without pain. "I have no idea," the Imperator answered. "Possibly. Less water waste."

"He's a War Boy, they don't shower," Toast put in. "Spend their whole lives dirty and painted up. Capable will have to show him how." She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

"Toast, it's not like that with the two of them," Furiosa said wearily. "At least not yet."

"They've been stuck to each other since he woke up," remarked the Dag. "Just like before."

Furiosa heaved a sigh. She was getting a headache. "They are...close, yes. But being close can mean different things, you know that."

Taking her eyes from the knife blade, the Dag stared pointedly at Max and then at Furiosa. 

"Let 'em be," Max decided, in a tone that indicated the matter was now settled. "They both survived, they deserve to...be clean together if they want." He took the knife out of the Dag's hands. "I'm gonna sharpen this thing before you hurt yourself."

Despite the aching in her upper body, Furiosa smiled as she watched him depart and the Dag threw a piece of carrot at his back.

 

X

 

The moment that the water came tumbling down out of the shower head Nux reared back a little in surprise. Capable giggled at his reaction. "It's ok," she told him.

She pulled off the filthy garment that she'd been wearing for days and let it fall to the floor. She and the others were going to have to find some new clothes, she realized, to dress like people and not like Wives. 

Nux's eyes went wide at the sight of her and he quickly turned away. Capable reached out and gently grabbed his arm. "Hey, it's alright, you can look. I don't mind. It's just a _body_. Everybody's got one."

After hesitating for one more brief second, Nux turned back to her, and Capable watched him swallow hard as he allowed himself a look at her bare form. His gaze trailed from her face down to her breasts, stomach and legs and then back up again. He nodded. 

She motioned to his pants. "Take those off so you can get in." Nux blinked in surprise but then followed him her instructions and removed them. Then she took his hand and led him under the spray. 

Capable sighed as she let the water run over her, basking in this small luxury. She could feel all the dust of the road washing off and running down the drain. She opened her eyes and stared at Nux, who was smiling widely, holding out his hands to catch the falling drops.

"Glory, it's been so long since I've seen this much water in one place!" The last traces of his ghostly War-paint were rinsed away and Capable was amazed at how different he looked when he wasn't dressed as his own corpse. His skin, though still pale, was a more human color and his face was very handsome. Even with all of the scars covering him, Nux was lovely to her. She felt that warmth again, the feeling that was difficult to describe, the one that made her want to touch him, to pull him as close as possible. 

Capable found her own eyes wandering lower on Nux and she blushed as she encountered the man-part between his legs. She hadn't really seen one up close; Joe had liked her to be lying on her stomach or propped on all fours when he tried to breed her. 

It certainly was a weird-looking thing, she decided, but Nux's didn't scare her, because _nothing_ about Nux scared her, he made her feel completely safe. Also, they were face to face, she wasn't being pressed down, in dread of what was coming next. 

When he noticed her scrutiny, his Part stiffened a little; she watched it swell bigger and Nux looked down in worry and embarrassment then tried to cover himself and turn away. Capable raised her hand and brushed her fingers against his cheek. "It's alright. It's just your body. It happens." She smiled warmly at him and he finally seemed to believe her because she felt him relax a little and he met her eyes again. 

"You're sure it doesn't bother you?" His voice was thick with doubt.

"I'm sure. Look at me," she gestured to herself, "does my body bother you?"

Nux gave her a lingering look again, one that licked along her skin, the pupils in his eyes dilating widely. Capable felt herself react; there was a tightness--not unpleasant--in places, her nipples hardened into tiny pebbles and deep inside of her a hot, tingly feeling had begun to grow. She knew what this was.

Once, Angharad had shown her and the other Sisters something secret. Immortan Joe would use them for breeding, they knew, and it would hurt, but they were not meant to just receive and absorb pain. There was a way that they could have pleasure too, but it was only for them, when they were not with him. There was a little place, tucked between their legs, a small hill of flesh that could make them feel good if it was touched properly. Capable had learned where to put her fingers, how to rub until a very good feeling began to build and then eventually exploded into one big burst of breathless wonderful. That was somehow what this reminded her of. 

"No," he answered. His voice was low. "You don't bother me at all. You're perfect."

 

X

 

While sharpening the knife for the Dag, Max accidentally stumbled across Cheedo. The dark haired young woman had her arms full of what looked to be rags, or scraps of cloth in various sizes. 

"What's all that?" he asked her, then added, "Haven't seen you all day."

"Well, I..." she looked down at the rags and then back up at him, "I went to visit. I don't like being up here all the time, so I went down to see the people. There was a woman, she knows how to make clothes. She's going to teach me how, so I can make clothes for all of us. I don't want to wear the things that Joe gave us."

Max raised his eyebrows, impressed at Cheedo's tenacity. These women never ceased to surprise him. With all they'd been through, they still cared about one another so much, they worked as a group, thinking selflessly. This was rather new to Max: he'd been alone for so long. Any time that he'd tried to help someone, to save them, it always seemed to backfire and leave him carrying more guilt and regret, so he'd given it up, vowing only to look out for himself. Until he'd found them. 

"Good," he told her. "That's...that will be a help."

Cheedo glanced curiously at the knife in Max's hand. "What are you doing?" she asked him. 

"Uh, its from the kitchen. Needs sharpened. Can't chop vegetables with a dull knife."

She smiled at him, and the smile made her look even younger than she already did. "That will be a help, too," she said, and walked on.

After his task was done and he'd returned the knife to the kitchen, the vegetables were all cut and then sifted into a large pot. Toast and the Dag carried this to each tower of the Citadel and gave out a small handful to each person until the pot was empty. Of course, there was not nearly enough for everyone this time, Mothers Milk would have to suffice, but at least many had been fed. Max quietly followed the two women on their rounds, because he knew how hungry people could be, and he was afraid they might be swarmed. Thankfully there were no incidents that night, but he decided that he would make it a point to shadow them each time that food was given out all the same. 

He knew how people could be.

 

Max pushed open the door to the room that he was sharing with Furiosa. She was standing with her back to him; her prosthetic was off and she was pulling on her tank top with her flesh hand. He cleared his throat to announce his presence.

"Oh hey," she said, tugging down the rest of the fabric as she spun around. Her skin was clean, there was no dirt on her face or dark paint around her eyes. She looked younger, and quite nice, if Max was being honest. _Pretty_.

"You got a shower," he observed.

"Yeah," Furiosa replied. "It was...amazing. I only get one every so often, so it's always a treat, being clean. I do feel guilty sometimes, having all that water to myself."

Max shook his head. "Don't feel guilty," he told her. "You deserve all that water."

She smiled. "Thanks. Did they get all the food given out?"

"Yeah. Couldn't get everyone, though."

A small shadow crept across her face. "We never can. Hopefully someday, if we can spread out the gardens."

Max scratched his head and then offered, "Maybe...I mean, if there's a _stove_ , couldn't there be...soup or something? It might stretch the vegetables further."

Furiosa sat down on the bed. "I thought about it," she admitted, "but that would take water and also more guzzoline for the stove. We just don't have enough of everything." She flopped backwards onto the pallet with a sigh. "Soup sounds good. Damn, now I'm hungry. Don't mention food again," she groaned.

Chuckling, Max joined her on the bed, stretching out beside her. "I promise I won't."

Furiosa looked over at him. "You can get a shower tomorrow," she said. "You need one. I don't even know what you look like under all that dirt, I probably won't recognize you."

"You look ok clean," he remarked, then winced at how stupid that sounded. Furiosa gave a snort of laughter. " _Thanks_."

"I mean you look nice," he tried again. " _Different_ , I dunno..."

"You're making me blush, stop."

"I'm not good with...that sort of thing. It's been awhile since I saw anything worth describing with pretty words."

"Oh, so I'm _pretty_ now," she teased, loving how uncomfortable he got.

Max grunted. "I'm not talking anymore," he said, rolling over. Furiosa kept on laughing.

It was a pretty sound, he decided.

 

X

 

Nux couldn't get the image of Capable's naked body out of his mind, and he didn't want to, because he liked the way it made him feel hot all over--but not like a fever--and caused his blood to race. It was like driving fast, only better. Every time he thought about it, he got that swelling in his Part. All he really knew about the swelling was that it happened sometimes, and it would go away eventually. His only education on the matter had come from older War Boys like Slit, who had been frank and to the point: "That Part is for breeding. Breeding means that when it gets hard you stuff it inside of a woman and fill her up, like putting guzzoline in a car." He'd been very clear about something else too: "But we don't do that. We don't Breed. That's not what we're for."

It wasn't what he was for, and so it was a useless reaction, Nux decided. Capable had been bred before by Immortan Joe, he knew, and he couldn't help but feel a dark, ugly kind of jealously towards his former leader. 

Now it was later at night and they were together on their bed. Capable was lying on her side, facing him. Her eyes were closed in sleep but her hand remained on his wrist, keeping him close. Eventually, Nux drifted off too. The deluge of water had made him feel languid and sleepy. 

Soon he was wrapped up into a dream again, and the dream showed him something, something that made his stomach turn. He could see Capable, lying on a bed. She was naked, on her stomach, her hair fanned out loose around her. Behind her was the Immortan, rutting harshly against her body. She looked so small and fragile compared to him; he seemed monstrous in his using of her body. The sight of her face made him feel broken in half--she was so sad, so blank and far away. She shouldn't look like that, like she was Nothing, just an Engine being filled up. This was nothing to be jealous of, he realized, and felt ashamed that he'd even thought it. If this was breeding then he was happy that it was not for him; what a cruel, rough thing for his sweet girl to have to endure. Well, never again, Nux decided firmly. Capable was with him now, and safe from all of that. Their bodies were not to be used, because they were not Things anymore.

Mercifully, the dream changed then, and showed him something else. He was standing in a vast garden. It was not like the gardens at the top of the Citadel, with plants growing up out of water, the plants here were growing up out of dirt, right out of the ground. It was like the place he had seen before, with the trees. Capable was standing there among all the Green, she was smiling widely at him and her face was like sunlight. There was something in his hand, he realized. Looking down, he saw five small seeds resting on his palm. "These are good for building," said that Voice, the one he'd heard before. Nux blinked, and then the garden was gone and he was awake.


	4. Mixing Memory and Desire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Furiosa speaks with the Milking Mothers, Max tells Nux a legend from long ago, and Capable teaches Nux how to make her feel better.

Capable tentatively approached Furiosa the next day and asked if she could speak to the Imperator for a moment. Furiosa listened patiently as Capable explained that she and Nux had visited the Milking Room and that one of the Mothers had treated her rather unkindly. Furiosa had an idea of who it was: a particularly proud and outspoken woman, who'd been at the Citadel for as long as she herself had, possibly longer.

She couldn't help but bristle a little at the things that had been said to Capable; the girl did not deserve such insults. Also, this brought up another worry. She and Max had decided to end the enforced breeding program and while Furiosa knew that this would be a huge relief to many, some, like that Milking Mother, might not see it as such. Most of the Citadel's population had denounced the Immortan after his death, but not all. There were still some who believed that Joe's way was correct and should be maintained.

"That woman just likes to run her mouth," Furiosa explained to Capable. "I'll take care of it. In the meantime, you and Nux just stay up here and keep on with your reading. Why did you go into the Milking Room, anyway?"

Capable looked down at her feet and then back up at Furiosa. "I'd never seen it," the young woman answered honestly. "I figured that I should; I should know what goes on here. I was....we were never allowed to be a part of it."

Feeling a wave of compassion for Capable, Furiosa said gently, "I know. And you _are_ a part of it--but you need to get used to things little by little. This is your home, and I'm so proud that you want to see more and learn what goes on. Just use caution, ok?"

Capable nodded, seeming placated by this. Furiosa had always admired the way that she was so understanding and empathetic. These were strengths, to be sure, but they could also get her into trouble. Despite how brave the Sisters were, and everything they had endured, there was still a good deal of innocence in them. Furiosa knew that it would not--and could not--last, but she would mourn its loss all the same.

This was not a place for the innocent.

 

After Capable had departed, Furiosa stalked into the Milking Room, figuring that this was as good a time as any to make the announcement. She stood still and folded her arms until all eyes were on her. 

"I know that nearly all of you are Breeders as well as Milking Mothers," she began. "I'm here to tell you that you will no longer be forced to Breed or provide Milk against your will. If you wish to voluntarily continue in your current role, you may." 

Furiosa glanced around, trying to gauge their reactions. As she'd suspected, many looked relieved and smiled gratefully. A few of the older Mothers, especially the one who had insulted Capable, merely glared at her. "Anyone who wishes to go will be unhooked later today. You may take up residence in the second tower." 

As she moved to leave the room, Furiosa walked past the large, scowling Mother, who spit at her. "Traitor!" the woman hissed. "Murderer! You stole from our Immortan, took what was rightfully his and then killed him. You think you have the right to undo his work, he who provided for us, kept us safe, gave us our purpose? Usurper! Mutinous bitch!" 

She spit again. Furiosa did not respond, merely kept walking. When she was back outside in the hallway, she punched the wall with her flesh hand, hard, nearly relishing the throb of pain.

X

While Nux was waiting for Capable, he spotted his Blood Bag examining some of the things that had been found in the Vault. These looked mechanical in nature, and Nux was immediately intrigued. 

"What are you doing, Bl--" he faltered, realizing that he did not know the man's real name, and the old moniker no longer seemed appropriate. 

"Max," Blood Bag supplied, glancing at him. "Name's Max."

"Ah!" said Nux. "What are you doing then, Max?"

"I'm looking at some of these old machines. They were locked up pretty tight, so maybe they're useful somehow."

"I don't know," Nux murmured doubtfully, moving closer. "They look strange." 

Using a screwdriver, Max was tinkering with something that appeared to be a small box of sorts. The box had a glass screen on the front. The back had been removed and inside was a complicated mishmash of tubes and wires. "I've never seen anything like that before. Have you?"

Max shook his head. "No, but I think I've heard of it. People used to have them, before. Pictures would come up on the screen."

"Pictures?" Nux repeated disbelievingly. "From where?"

"Signals. Once, way back, there were signals bouncing all over the place, moving through the air," Max explained as he collected several small screws into a pile. "And the people had different kinds of boxes that could catch the signals. Use 'em to talk to each other from far away, or look at the pictures that came down into the box."

Nux whistled as he considered this. "So chrome! Where did they come from, the signals?"

Max shrugged and peered more closely at one of the wires. "I dunno. They were just there, I guess. Lots of things were just there, and now they aren't anymore."

"Do you think some might still be out there, though?" wondered Nux.

In response, Max merely shrugged again. He seemed to not have an opinion one way or the other, or at least not one that he cared to voice.

"Glory," muttered Nux with a shake of his head. "Flying signals. Must have been a strange world."

 

X

 

Capable felt a bit better after she told Furiosa about the Milking Room. She had debated whether or not to mention it, but she knew that the Imperator should probably be aware that the Milking Mother apparently was still faithful to the Immortan, and did not appreciate the idea of change.

Also, Capable noticed that she'd been thinking quite a lot about something else that happened the day before, the shower that she had shared with Nux. She found herself replaying it over again in her mind, until her body grew warm with that familiar sensation. After debating her options internally for a few minutes, she decided that the best thing to do would be to quickly take care of herself in the way that she had been taught. 

Capable ducked inside of the room that and Nux had been sharing, and lay down on the bed. Pulling off her thin dress, she relaxed and brought her hand down to her spot, the one that was tingling. Her eyes fell closed and she began to touch herself, images of Nux filling her mind. The way he had looked at her, his eyes roaming over her, the knowledge that she made his body respond. 

She imagined pulling him close, their mouths meeting, how it would feel if she could press herself against him. Having him back again had set something loose inside of her, and she was brimming with emotion, more so than she had in a long time. It was hope, she realized. Hope had come back from the dead with him and ignited her spirit.

 

X

 

Nux's head was swimming with all this new information. He'd never been taught anything about Before. War Boys didn't need to care about the past. Now, he was finding that there were so many amazing things to be discovered. He wondered what else had existed then and why all those things were gone. Maybe he would ask Max. The man seemed to have an impressive amount of knowledge. 

He couldn't see Capable anywhere, perhaps she'd gone back to their room. The door was closed. He opened it and his eyes went wide as he found her. Capable was lying on the bed, naked, and her hand was moving between her legs. She paused when she saw him, her mouth falling open in surprise. Nux quickly closed the door behind him, not wanting anyone else to be able to see her like this. 

"Are you alright?" he asked. Capable's face was flushed and she was breathing heavily. "Are you hurt?"

She bit her lip, seeming unsure how to answer. Then she reached out to him with her other hand, motioning him over to her. Slowly, he joined her on the bed. 

"What is it?" he asked.

"I'm trying to make myself feel good," she explained. 

"Oh," Nux said. His face and neck were starting to get hot. "Do...can I help?" Capable seemed to be struggling, and she deserved to feel good.

She smiled. "Yes, if you want."

"Show me how," he pleaded. 

Obliging him, she opened her legs wider, exposing a place that Nux had only glimpsed before. There was a small thatch of silky dark hair and beneath hid a pink, lush area that shimmered slightly with moisture. At the top was a little peak of flesh that looked swollen. 

"Give me your hand,"she instructed, and when he obeyed she brought two of his fingers against that swollen nub, guiding them in a circular motion. 

"That's perfect,"she told him, closing her eyes. The dampness seeped out from inside of her and covered Nux's fingers. He felt his own Part begin to swell again, creating a pressure between his legs; he looked down and saw it was standing up, straining against the fabric of his pants. 

Capable's eyes were open now, and she was staring at it. She seemed...pleased, even excited by the sight. "A little faster," she encouraged him, rocking her hips a little. Looking up at her body, Nux fixed his gaze on her beautiful round breasts, the rosy tips that were poking up, like the spot that he was rubbing. She brought her hands up and against them, stroking the globes of flesh, then squeezing. The pressure between his legs increased to an ache. 

Capable's breath was coming quicker. She kept rocking her hips against his hand, encouraging him. "Does that feel good?" he asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, nodding rapidly. "It's perfect!" 

Pleased with himself, Nux kept up with his ministrations, watching with rapt attention as more and more liquid ran out of her. She began to tense, and then a quaking started in her legs. 

"Are you alright?" he asked, somewhat alarmed at the new reaction. "Should I stop?"

"No, no, keep going! It's good, it's so good..." Capable tensed again and then suddenly cried out, grinding herself even harder against his fingers as she gripped his wrist and a massive tremor shook her entire body. Then she stilled and relaxed. 

"What happened to you?" he asked breathlessly.

"I felt really good," she explained. "Sometimes I need to, and so I touch myself, to make that happen."

Nux nodded at this explanation, feeling proud that he could help her to have what she needed. Capable looked at the bulge between his legs again, then asked shyly, "Do you want me to try and help you feel good too?"

"Only...only if you want to," he whispered, and his Part gave a throb of encouragement. She sat up and moved closer to Nux, unbuckling his pants and pulling him out. He gasped as he felt her hand close around his Part, and she smiled. Experimenting with different motions, Capable slid her hand up along his shaft and a burst of pleasure shot through him.

"That! That's good, what you did," he gasped out. Nodding, pleased, she repeated the motion until he was quaking with the force of the feelings she was creating, and Nux arched his hips in the same way that she had, wanting more and more of her touch. The pressure kept building, and the sight of Capable's hand wrapped around his Part, and her breasts, her hair, her face, _her_...it was _glorious_ , and then something happened. Heat rushed through Nux and he made a choked sound as a white liquid exploded out of the tip of his Part, leaving his body shuddering. 

"I'm sorry," he managed once he could speak, because he didn't know what else to say, and his whole world was spinning upside down. 

"Don't be sorry," Capable said. The white liquid had splashed onto her skin, but she didn't seem to mind at all. She merely studied the pearlescent substance and then wiped it away with the bed sheet. "It helped, didn't it?" 

"Yes. Glory, yes! But what was it?" he asked, thinking of that explosion at the end, at what had come out of him. He wondered if that was what Slit had been talking about, that would fill up a woman.

"Your body was reacting," she explained. "When we were in the shower together, I started thinking about something that Angharad taught me. Being with you, close to you like that, looking at you and seeing you look at me...it was nice. It made me react. It reminded me of the feelings I could make myself have, made me want to do that."

Nux pondered over this, still feeling slightly confused. "Slit once told me that the swelling has to do with Breeding. But War Boys don't breed." 

Capable shook her head. "It doesn't always, I don't think. Breeding hurts. There isn't anything nice about it. But the same parts that get used for breeding can also make us feel good when they get touched the right way."

"I never knew that," he said. "Could we touch each other again sometime then?" he asked hopefully.

"I'd like that," she answered.

They stretched out beside one another on the bed. Nux reached out and ran his fingers along Capable's cheek. "I had a dream about you," he told her.  
"And I saw Immortan...breeding you. I'm so sorry that happened. I didn't understand what it meant, what he did to you and the others. I never want you to have to be hurt like that again."

Capable was quiet, then she said, "He's gone. You won't use me like he did, we won't Breed. He couldn't make me feel good, because I was just one of his things. So were you. He used both of us. But now, we get to be so much more than we were before. We don't have to hurt anymore. Nobody will make us. We're free to feel what we want." 

She lay still in thought for a moment and then asked, "You really saw that in a dream?"

Nodding, Nux said, "It was like something was showing it to me. Ever since the last night fever, I've been seeing things. A voice talks to me. It put seeds in my hand, said they were good for building."

"Maybe you're special," Capable suggested. "My teacher Miss Giddy was one of the History People. She told me that some of us have gifts, and can hear the Voice of the past, and it carries the knowledge from before the world died. It remembers all the forgotten things. You should listen to what it tells you."

"I don't know why it would talk to me," admitted Nux.

Capable gave him a gentle look and it warmed him all the way through, made him feel light. "We don't always get to choose what we know," she said. "Sometimes our destiny is to learn. I'm learning new things. We can do it together."

Nux trailed his finger along her soft bottom lip. Capable darted out her tongue and licked it, tasting herself there. He felt a shiver of delight go through him. "Did you know that Before, there were signals flying through the air? They carried pictures and words."

"Really?" Capable raised her eyebrow. "Do you think they're still there?"

"If they are," he decided, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, "we should find a way to catch them."


	5. In the Mountains, There You Feel Free

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max gets a shower, Furiosa has a revelation, and Nux and Capable have...more of each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry it took me awhile to update, lots of changes at work making me crazy! Here is the next chapter: some plot but a hefty dose of smut. Let me know what you think!
> 
> Oh and btw, all of the chapter titles come from _The Wasteland_ by T.S. Eliot.

It had been a busy day for Furiosa. After telling the Milking Mothers about the changes that would soon be implemented, she went to speak to the men who were selected as Breeders. Now as she returned to the top of the Citadel, Furiosa reflected upon the past few hours. The male Breeders were also of two minds, she knew. Some were forced into it, and hated the violation of their will as much as the women did, and then their were others who didn't mind the role at all. Some of these truly believed that they were performing a necessary service. Others, the Imperator feared, just enjoyed what was essentially a license to rape. Furiosa comforted herself with the reminder that she was giving the unwilling a chance to leave: they now had a choice. Still, there was a bad taste in the back of her mouth, a worry that chewed at the lining of her stomach. Was it enough? Taking a deep breath, Furiosa attempted to focus, to not allow the fear to overcome her. She concentrated on the sound of her boots against the floor, of motors humming in the distance.

As she passed by the door to what was now Nux's room, another faint noise caught her ears, a female voice that she recognized as belonging to Capable. And she was moaning. Not in pain, but seemingly in delight. Furiosa had a pretty good idea what was going on in there, and she realized that Toast had been correct in her assumption about Nux and Capable. She moved on, smiling and shaking her head. _Lucky girl_ , Furiosa thought to herself. It had been so long since she'd had any kind of intimacy. In fact, she'd rarely even thought about it. Nobody had really appealed to her in that way, and besides, she'd been too busy. Life as an Imperator in the Citadel under Immortan Joe had not been conducive to romantic pursuits.

Making a mental note to talk with Capable later to make sure that she was aware of the herbs that could be taken to prevent conception, Furiosa made her way through the series of interconnecting rooms that wove all over the Bio dome, over toward the water supply flow levers. She noticed that the timer had been set, indicating that someone was taking a shower. The levers were on a large control panel that powered many of the Citadel's operations. She heard the timer go off, and gave the various gauges a quick check, making sure that everything was in order. The pipes groaned as the shower flow was cut off. A few moments later, she heard the door open and looked over to see Max emerge, a flood of steam whooshing and hissing out around him. 

He was certainly _clean_ , she noticed, clean and shirtless, his pants slung low on his hips, feet bare. Furiosa stood still and blinked, momentarily lost in the view of solid muscle, scars and tattoos. Hair wet, skin tan and slicked over with droplets of water still clinging. It occurred to her just how big he was, and she felt engulfed. 

"Hey," he said, startling her from her daze. 

"Hi. Sorry," she said, not sure what she was apologizing for. Max didn't seem to notice, just asked, "How did it go today? When you talked to the...uh..."

"Milking Mothers," supplied Furiosa. 

Max nodded. "Yeah, them. How did they react?"

"Well..." she started, wondering how exactly to respond. She decided that she would tell him the whole story. They were...partners now, it seemed, and he needed to understand the problems that they were facing, to be a part of it. She needed him to be. 

"I don't know, to be honest," Furiosa admitted. "Most of them seemed happy, but there's one woman who might give us trouble. She insulted Capable and she had some choice words for me too."

Max raised an eyebrow at this. "Such as?"

"Called me a traitor and a bitch, a murderer, you get it. She really doesn't want things to change; she loved Joe, and being a Breeder too, apparently."

"People will always fight change," he offered. "But eventually she's going to have to deal with it, the way we all do."

"I know."

"You can't make everyone happy." Max looked at her with an understanding in his gray-blue eyes and Furiosa felt a remarkable stirring low in her belly, a heat that spread down between her legs, and it took her by surprise when she realized that it was arousal. "I know," she said again, softly. "But I have to try my best."

He moved closer to her then; her heart and stomach flipped and her blood swam because he was _so_ close, and then he brought his hand against her face and rested it there for a moment. It was suddenly too much feeling flooding through her; she was so painfully aware. Then Max stepped back, the touch vanishing, spell breaking. 

"What did you do today?" she asked, abruptly switching gears away from whatever had just happened. "I know you were working on something with Nux earlier."

"Just messing with some of the things that you found in the vaults. Joe had boxes, the kind that used to catch signals."

"Is that what they are? I wondered." Furiosa suddenly recalled the blue-black of night, stars, talking in hushed voices, she and Max, while the others looked at satellites. Never had she felt so broken, and yet never had she been so grateful for anyone before. _Fool_. "The shows. I'd heard about them. Stories moving through the air." 

As a smile crept across her face, Furiosa added, "That world...I would like to have seen it. Before it all went bad, before everything died. I can't even imagine it."

"No sense in looking backwards," he told her. "They had their magic signals and their stories--but something must have been wrong. Or else we wouldn't be here like this."

Furiosa couldn't stop herself from asking, "Do you like it here?"

Max studied her silently for a moment. His only response was a small smile and she felt warm again.

 

X

 

"Do you remember them talking about the satellites?" Capable asked Nux as they lay in each other's arms. "That night, out in the wasteland?" 

Nux vaguely recalled overhearing snippets of the conversation, but he'd been too preoccupied at the moment to really pay attention. He'd been mesmerized by the stars, by the feeling of Capable against him: it had seemed like a dream, how he'd suddenly become part of something strange and new, a wider world, with trees and someone so shiny wanting to touch him, be close to him. It had made him dizzy. "A little. I didn't know that you were awake."

"I just had my eyes closed." Capable smiled at him, remembering how calm she'd felt despite all the chaos and uncertainty; resting her head against his scarred chest she'd felt like even if there was no Green Place anymore, she'd still found something wonderful, something that felt like home. "If they're still out there, then the signals probably are too. It's so strange, the way they're just...drifting and watching. They saw it all happen, saw the world die. Must be so sad."

Nux reached out and played with a strand of her hair, wrapping it around his fingers, always in awe of the beautiful color. "If they're still watching us, they'll see that we're trying to make things better. And then maybe they won't be sad anymore."

Capable seemed satisfied by this, and she cuddled closer and pressed a kiss against his mouth, strangely excited by the rough scarring on his lips. The kiss deepened and he opened his mouth in surprise when he felt her tongue flicking, seeking entry. Nux felt his body come to life again, soon he was hard and pressing against her, dying to touch her like before, to feel her hands on him. 

When they broke the kiss he saw that dazed, heated look in her eyes, the way she was breathing, and immediately wanted more of her. Her lips were so soft and sweet--he knew that all of her skin was silky like that, in some places particularly, and he wondered if she tasted as sweet everywhere. Putting it to the test, he tentatively began an exploration with his mouth. He found the skin of her neck and Capable let out a soft little gasp as he licked his tongue down to her clavicle and then back up again. 

"Is it good?" he asked against her throat. He could feel her pulse thudding beneath his lips. 

"Yes, always," she whispered. "Keep kissing me."

He did as she wished, moving lower until he had his mouth on her breast, flicking his tongue over her hard nipple, making her arch her back in delight, moaning again--and glory, how he loved the sounds she made, how they made him even harder. "Perfect," breathed Capable. "Oh, Nux...." 

Nux could have stayed there all day, but he had the urge to move further down her body, trailing kisses along her smooth belly, and then he paused just above the place where he'd put his fingers to make her shudder and cry out.

He looked up at her, asking permission, and Capable nodded, opening her legs to give him better access. Nux wondered how to begin, then simply let his instincts take over. He went slow, experiencing her. Using his fingers, he parted her folds to get a better look at her, so entranced by the satiny pink flesh. That wetness shone again and he felt it, then decided to taste. He brought his mouth against her softly, pressing a kiss and then, using his tongue, he found that swollen little spot that gave her so much _good_ , and licked. 

Capable seemed to like this very much, and so Nux grew bolder, sucking and rubbing it with his tongue the way he had with his fingers, losing himself utterly in the taste--something unique, strange but very pleasant, because it was _her_ and he was making her feel good, and that was his new purpose, he decided. 

Without even realizing it, he had begun to rock his hips, grinding himself against the mattress, trying to get some relief. Capable bucked up against him, like she needed him even closer, so Nux delved his tongue _into_ her, into that wet, velvety channel she had, and she let out a throaty moan. "Yes! Please don't stop...I'm..." Then he felt her legs begin to shake and a surge of joy welled up inside of him as he knew that he had succeeded. Capable cried out again, louder this time; he tasted more of her, a new flood of wetness against his tongue, and this made Nux lose control, exploding in spurts that left him gasping. 

Never before so happy, never before so very alive.

 

X

 

Furiosa was very conflicted; she supposed that was a good word to describe it. Or maybe _confused_ was better. Feeling certain things again had left her off-balance. The force of her arousal had startled her and it was still there, though now it had dulled to a simmer. Perhaps this was simply a reaction to the closeness that she and Max had developed, the strange entanglement of their destinies--maybe the want was a side effect. 

But no, she realized, she wanted _him_ because of who he was, because he had somehow become a part of her, as if his soul had been transfused into her along with his blood, making them one. Even before that, on the road, she had felt something, a recognition, a connection unlike anything she'd ever known. Furiosa could swear that Max felt the same; it was in his eyes, the way he touched her. 

To act on this might be dangerous, to allow a layer of physical intimacy to their entanglement; he still might leave, and in turn take part of _her_ soul along with him.

Regardless, the fact remained that Furiosa was now still very hot and bothered and in need of release. At least she knew how to take care of her needs by herself, which she hadn't needed to do in a very long time. Taking the edge off was necessary, and so she sequestered herself alone in her room. 

Pulling off her pants, Furiosa stretched out on the bed, letting her body sink against the mattress. She breathed evenly through her nose, relaxing. Her eyelids fell closed and her hand wandered down between her legs, startled at how wet she was, how sensitive. This, it seemed, was not going to take long. She fell into a rhythm, circling her clit with her fingers. Whenever she'd had occasion to do this before, she'd never imagined anyone in particular. Just a faceless body, hands and tongue. Now she could only see one person, couldn't chase him from her mind, didn't want to.

Her fingers sped up as she was awash in visions of Max; drowning, falling, burning because it was _his_ hands, his beautiful lips, his eyes looking at her, him inside of her, moving and filling her. Then Furiosa came so quick and so hard that she nearly levitated off the bed, gasping and thrashing, no longer trying to muffle the noises she was making, so overcome in the moment that she hadn't even realized that she'd forgotten to lock the door and it had been opened.

Max had heard strange sounds, at first associating them with pain, not lust, and had gone to check and now he knew he should _not_ be watching this but he found himself struck stupid and breathless and unable to move because he saw _her_ : closed eyes, body arching in climax, and then, as if she'd summoned him, he heard her moan his name.


	6. The Third Who Walks Always Beside You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The awkwardness between Max and Furiosa is short-lived as a new problem presents itself, and bonds continue to be formed amid the fall-out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I know it took FOREVER to update and I'm so sorry but I really care about this story and I didn't just want to dash something off super-quick. You have all been wonderful readers, and it was a lovely recent comment that made me really get down to work, so thank you! 
> 
> This next chapter contains mention of attempted assault, again it is nothing graphic but if you are triggered, please read carefully. 
> 
> Much love to all and happy reading!

Max couldn’t speak and neither could Furiosa. The two merely locked eyes and stared at one another for a long drawn-out moment; frozen time. The tension was broken, however, by the sound of a scream. It was faint, but it was there, and, through some latent maternal instinct that Furiosa hadn’t even known she possessed, she recognized the voice as belonging to Cheedo. Moving on instinct, she situated her clothing and ran out of the room, Max following. Her heart ascended to the cavern of her throat, where it lodged painfully as she followed the sounds. 

Thankfully, the screams had echoed along the metal, resonating perfectly to be heard. When they found Cheedo she was backed into a dim corner by a male figure, eyes wide with terror, trying to scramble away as large hands closed around her, one trying to search roughly beneath her thin dress. In the blink of an eye, Max had him on the ground, and the young woman ran to Furiosa. The Imperator didn’t even need to ask Cheedo what had happened. She knew. A glance down at the man pinned on the floor sent a vicious punch of guilt through her: he was one of the male breeders that she had freed. Furiosa hadn’t had a good feeling about him; his features were sharp and untrustworthy, eyes a disturbing golden-yellow color, heavy lidded. He looked like a predator. And she had opened the door to his cage. 

''What do you want to do with him?'' Max asked, twisting the man’s arm hard behind his back, illiciting a grunt of pain. 

''Lock him up,'' answered Furiosa. Her voice was small and tight, like it was trying to curl up inside of her chest. Arms around Cheedo, who seemed very young, suddenly, little more than a child, trembling yet trying to contain her fear, her breath coming in small hiccuping gasps.

''Are you hurt?'' she asked, looking down into the girl’s brown eyes. Cheedo’s shoulders trembled and then she steadied herself and shook her head. She wasn’t visibly injured, Furiosa could see, but something inside the soul-skeleton of her had been badly rattled. ''I was on my way back up the the Bio-Dome and he just grabbed me. I didn’t even see him.''

Having heard the screams as well, the Dag appeared, a pale sliver with wide eyes. She blinked as she took in the scene but said nothing. Furiosa nodded at her. ''Take Cheedo upstairs and get her something to drink.'' To the dark-haired girl she said, gently but firmly, ''Go with Dag. I need to handle this.''

Cheedo nodded and allowed her Sister to drape a spindly white arm across her shoulders and lead her away. 

Furiosa felt colors; red and black and metal. Anger hummed and roared like an engine, spitting smoke. A few steps. She paused, then stared down at the man pinned on the floor. Rearing back, she drove a violent kick into his ribs. He coughed, trying to fold himself up. Max dragged him to his feet, and he and Furiosa marched their new prisoner to a place that Max hoped he’d never see again: darkness, blood, cages, and nothing to escape to, nothing but a glimpse of rocks and sky and then air before the drop. There was an empty cage, dangling and swaying with a _creak-creak_ sound.

 

X

 

''Are we wrong?'' Furiosa asked Max. She was staring out at the wasteland again. He looked at her with a slightly raised eyebrow and she continued, her hand curling into a fist. ''He was a Breeder. This is what I was afraid of. Some of these people, when they’re freed, their worst impulses come out.''

He laid a comforting hand on her shoulder; he always knew how to touch her right where the knotted tension was worst. The heat from him soothed her, seeping into her gnarled muscles.

''You can’t control what people do, what they are,'' he said. ''You’re trying your best. But like I said, not everyone here is innocent like those girls.''

She looked at Max. ''What do we do with him?''

The uncertainty on her face pained him. ''Keep him in the cage for now,'' he answered. ''This might happen again with someone else. Things are changing now and that’s good—they needed to change, but we need to be cautious.''

This was the most he’d said to her at once in awhile, it seemed. The adrenaline of the incident was dulling and now Furiosa remembered what had happened right before Cheedo’s scream had sliced through it, severing the moment. There was no trace of awkwardness in Max’s face, yet there was a new heated depth to his eyes when he looked at her that hadn’t been there before. It was subtle, but she saw it.

 

Dusk was falling, the sky now that bloody indigo shade, heat hovering viciously, clinging before the coolness of night won out and descended. Max remembered seeing Cheedo in the hall days before, her hands full of fabric and his full of knives. There had been such an earnest sweetness on her face, an eagerness to help. He felt a pulse of rage in his blood, a bright migraine-flash, and he wanted to kill the man who had tried to her hurt, to let loose the wild feral inside of him, that barely-human creature laying now in dormant slumber. Max blinked the impulse away, calming, reminding himself that he had a name, that he had a place among these people, Furiosa and her new tribe of women. He belonged here, needed to stay, he knew, at least for awhile beside the Imperator. He couldn’t help but keep looking at Furiosa. Her face, which had been relaxed and almost smiling at moments earlier in the day, was now taut with tension, all of her muscles knotting themselves beneath the weight of her new responsibility. She was strong, probably the strongest person he’d ever met, but she shouldn’t have to carry this all alone. 

''I’m not going,'' Max said suddenly.

Furiosa blinked her aqua eyes at him. ''What?'' If he wasn’t mistaken, there was hope there, a small and trembling thing.

He cleared his throat. ''I’m not going anywhere. I’m…I’m here now.''

There came the upward twitch of her lips, a kind of relief easing across the planes of her face; a _pretty_ face, he was sure now, shiny amidst all this ugliness like a sliver of moonlight splaying across the barren ground. He put his hand on her shoulder again.

 

X

 

Capable thought that she could hear the scuffling sounds of commotion from where she drifted in and out of sleep beside Nux. She felt him rouse, and then a feeling of urgency pulled her to the surface like cold rough fingers and she woke completely.

Nux sat up in bed beside her, alert and listening. Wordless communication passed between them; flying signals. They both got to their feet, pulling on clothes and abandoning their quiet place, having been reminded of the reality outside the door. They found Cheedo and the Dag in the kitchen, sitting side by side and looking rather grave. The Dag’s arm formed a tight circle around the dark-haired girl’s shoulders.

''What happened?'' asked Nux.

''Someone tried to attack her while she was coming back from the lower levels,'' Dag explained, smoothing her other hand over Cheedo’s hair. 

Capable’s stomach dropped harshly. ''Did he—'' she ventured, and was relieved when Cheedo shook her head. ''No. He tried. He tried to…push my dress up but I screamed and Max and Furiosa came.''

''I hope they killed him,'' decided Nux in a rough voice.

''Furiosa won’t,'' the Dag said. ''And Max won’t unless she wants. He’ll be locked away out of the light, don’t worry.''

''I _do_ worry,'' Capable spoke quietly, without even realizing she was talking until the words were already past her lips. ''The people here, some of them….they don’t respect Furiosa as a leader. They’ll rebel.''

Nux brushed fingertips against her arm. ''If they do, we’ll stop them,'' he assured.

''How?'' Capable wondered, thinking of running and chasing and death, nothing but loss and bleached-bone earth slicked over with guzzoline.

''Let’s not talk about it now,'' the Dag said firmly, mother-like. ''Something pleasant instead, I think.''

Just then Toast came rushing breathlessly into the room. ''What happened?'' she demanded, her russet-colored eyes racing over the four already gathered. ''What are you all doing in here? I heard all kinds of screaming.''

''We’re talking about pleasant things,'' answered Nux, trying on a smile.

''Ok…'' said Toast with a raised eyebrow. She looked like she didn’t believe him, yet she still sank down to the floor and tucked her legs beneath her. ''Like what?''

''Like green things,'' Capable joined in, warming to the idea of a Pleasant discussion. ''Big leafy trees and gardens that go on for miles.''

''With plants that grow right up out of the ground and can cure sickness,'' Nux supplied helpfully.

A tentative smile began to bloom on Cheedo’s face, a fragile-winged thing. ''Big pools of aqua cola. So much that you can swim around in it.''

''Big feasts, long tables full of food,'' Toast contributed, getting into the spirit. She leaned back, propping herself on her elbows. ''And dancing.''

''Fluffy beds,'' Capable spoke in a dreamy tone, and Toast snickered. ''And shows,'' she added hurriedly. ''Lots of shows.''

''With boxes to catch them,'' grinned Nux. 

_Things we’ll never see_ , thought Capable, but she kept the words to herself, and they sank to the bottom of her belly where they rested like stones.

 

 

Exhausted, Furiosa walked the corridors, checking and rechecking, making sure that the doors of the cage were tightly locked. The man inside didn’t say a word, just glared yellowly down at her, sharp as flint, plotting. She left him and went on. The last stop was to check on the Sisters, and she found them all together in the kitchen, sitting in a circle on the floor, asleep, Dag’s arm never leaving Cheedo, Toast propped beside them, and then Nux-and-Capable, curled together like one being, a creature of bone-paleness and glowing red, death overlit with an insistent burn of life. Something about the scene warmed her so that she had to turn away. 

Back down to her—to _their_ —room, where she lay beside Max. Nothing seemed particularly strange or different, though she pondered what he was thinking of her now, after what he had seen. But as she folded herself against him, he held her a little more tightly, let his arm drape more heavily across her body, until she fell asleep.

The dream was jarring, sharp-clawed. The yellow-eyed man was on his knees, still nasty and defiant, unrepenting. She stood before all the Citadel dwellers as they gathered below, looking up at her. Furiosa held a long blade in her hands, gripping it so tightly that her knuckles shone white. ''Hear me!'' she called out, voice ringing. ''This will not be tolerated! Anyone who attempts violence of any sort against another, especially my girls, will face the penalty.'' She raised the blade, it careened down at an arc, shining in the glinting sun, and then the blow was struck, head cleanly falling away from body, useless, until her foot found it and it was kicked over the edge into the crowd below. Furiosa searched the faces there, amid the din and roar, until she found the one that she was looking for: the Milking Mother, dark-haired and fleshy-cheeked, rage simmering. The Imperator nodded at her as if to say, ''You’re next.''

She woke, chilled and with a flutter of panic racing in her heart, the violence of the dream leaving her disoriented. The eeirie blue light of too early morning slipped into the room from somewhere, and this only heightened the anxiety, beads of sweat leaping onto her skin as she sucked in breaths to calm herself. She leaned down again, seeking the familiar pressure of Max’s body, the scent of him, sweat and road and salt. In response, he tucked his face against her neck, til she was lulled by steady breath. She felt his mouth, his tongue darting out to lick gently by her ear, the way one animal might soothe another.

 

 

Something must have been at work in the air that night, something in the way the moon came down that conjured something, set spirits loose amid the Citadel, where they roamed and visited the sleeping, because Furiosa was not the only one to dream strange dreams. After a long discussion during which they named every pleasant thing that they could think of, he and the Sisters had fallen asleep right there in the kitchen. And now he was walking in Dreamtime, amid a large city. It was dusk, whatever light had been there was fading quickly from the sky and he was left wandering the shadowy miles of buildings, sentinels of steel and glass. He could see into some of the windows as he passed by. There were people there, weirdly doll-like, eyes fixed ahead. Everyone was looking at some sort of box with a screen, like the one that Max had been tinkering with. Large, small, in-between; the glow from them seemed to paint the faces of the watchers in eerie fluorescence. 

''This is what it looked like, near the end,'' said that Voice again, crawling out of the steel, wise and old. ''Everyone had a show. It was their own world, and they could hide inside of it. And then all of the shows joined and made a larger world. Eventually, everyone climbed inside and forgot what was going on around them. They thought it was safe. But too many shows connected and collided and some grew more powerful than others. War became too easy, killing too simple, until they were all just a brush of fingers from destruction. And then, after the twilight, it all went dark. You must be careful. The world can live again, but not the same. Not like that.''

The Voice fell quiet for a moment, then said, ''You’re sleepwalking.''

''What?'' Nux called. The buildings around him had begun to dissolve, grow faint. 

''You’re sleepwalking,'' said the voice again, and now it sounded remarkably like Capable. Nux blinked, disoriented, finding himself in the corridor with his sweet girl standing in front of him. A concerned look fell across her face, veil-like. ''You alright?''

''Just dreams,'' he said, steadying himself. ''Strange.''

Capable nodded understandingly and put an arm around him. Then her face changed, her brow furrowing in bewilderment as she looked at his neck.

''What is it?'' he asked.

She reached out and rested her fingers against his neck. Her voice was a faraway whisper-sound as she said, ''Larry and Barry.'' She looked up at him, their eyes meeting. ''They’re gone.''


End file.
